Shaw’s Supermarkets stepped up the pressure on more than 300 warehouse workers in their third week of a strike by informing their union that Shaw’s plans to hire permanent replacements.

Jon Chesto

Shaw’s Supermarkets stepped up the pressure on more than 300 warehouse workers in their third week of a strike by informing their union that Shaw’s plans to hire permanent replacements.

The workers at the Shaw’s perishable goods warehouse in Methuen have been on strike after they rejected a Shaw’s contract proposal on March 7. The workers’ union, Easton-based United Food and Commercial Workers Local 791, has also been picketing more than a dozen Shaw’s and Star Market stores since the strike began.

The West Bridgewater-based company, a division of conglomerate Supervalu Inc., informed Local 791 on Tuesday that it is beginning the process of hiring a new work force for the Methuen warehouse.

“The strike is almost three weeks old and we have no idea how long it will last,” said Judy Chong, a spokeswoman for Shaw’s Supermarkets and the affiliated Star Market chain. “We are certainly disappointed that it has come to this. But we are obligated to protect the business and the livelihoods of the other 25,000 associates who work for us in New England.”

Chong said the company has been using a backup plan to distribute meat and produce that the company would normally store at the Methuen warehouse. She declined to provide specifics about that contingency plan.

Chong said Shaw’s has an alternate offer on the table that would, among other things, provide a wage increase of more than 4 percent over the four-year life of the contract, keep intact the workers’ pension plan and increase the company’s contribution to health care costs by up to 19 percent. She said the average hourly pay at the warehouse is currently about $19 an hour.

“We hope the union will reconsider and accept this because the offer will not be on the table indefinitely,” Chong said.

The company previously offered a contract that would be more appealing to workers in an effort to head off the strike, but it was withdrawn after the union rejected that proposal, she said.

Local 791 spokesman Peter Derouen lashed out at the move to hire replacements. Derouen blames Shaw’s and Supervalu for the impasse: He said neither side has met to discuss contract terms since March 7.

“They tried to ram an inferior contract down our members’ throats,” Derouen said. “If we get back to the table (and) they bargain the way they should bargain, then I know we can come to a fair agreement.”

Derouen called the notice to hire replacements a ploy to scare the union members into accepting the alternate contract offer. He said Local 791 is prepared to broaden its picketing, and other UFCW locals may help picket and leaflet Supervalu stores in other parts of the country.

“They’ve now taken this dispute to a new level by threatening these people’s livelihoods,” he said. “If that’s what they’re going to do, we’re going to escalate this thing.”

Patriot Ledger writer Jon Chesto may be reached at jchesto@ledger.com.